Moondrop - Aria Snow Edition

Ok I also didn’t love mine until I we’d the shit out of them for a ton of bass using peace. Just used crinnacles eq and added bass on the low end and then some stuff at 20 and 40 hz. I will say I like my 6xx, a lot more, but I do definitively have a place for my aria se now. Mostly Fred again/ edm on the aria se and then everything else on my sennys. There’s a certain rumble (pun intended lol) that I like from the aria if you boost the low end enough.

I've experimented with IEMs and came to an conclusion that no IEM will ever beat the soundstage of an open-back planar pair of cans. But to be honest I had a lot of fun with budget earphone options like HEXA/Chu2/Aria SE etc and think that if the budget is limited (up to 100$), IEM is the only way to go. Most budget sub-100$ caans are just meh from both technical and tuning perspective.

1. Edition XS - when I want to enjoy music I always pick them 2. HD599se - when I work in front of my pc for many hours a day and require maximum comfort I use them. The comfiest cans in existence. Period. Plus, the warm signature is a great escape from the XS 3. HD6xx - exclusively use them for vocal-heavy songs. For critical listening the XS is much better and the 599 is just way more comfortable to be an all-rounder. 4. KSC75 - use them for my bike commute to work/daily walks. Comfortable, sounds good and can be put in a small T-shirt pocket without an issue. 5. DT770pro - I still own them and ONLY use them twice a week when I’m watching a movie/yt very late and my wife is asleep and can be waken up by the soundleak from the XS/599. IEMS - 1. Aria SE - only use in public transport. Neutrally tuned which I like. 2. Space Travel - was my commute daily driver until recently when my wife lost her APP so I had to give it to her. 3. Chu2 - meh, too much bloated low end for my liking. 4. CCA Cra - like chu2 but worse.

I have moondrop snow for maybe 3 years of using every other day no tearing. No scratches. And i use them in train and stuff so put them fast in my pocket when i finish.

these iems are amazing, i still use them as my daily driver, the nozzle does take some getting used to, but now they are very comfortable. I previously had the moon drop arias snow edition and those were a bad experience, i was under the impression that i didn’t like iems all together until i decided to give them another shot with these, i love the zero reds

I'll say in advance it's very anecdotal and subjective, so take it how you will. Sennheiser HD560S is good for my particular use case for a headphone, at AU$300 (when I bought it). I want headphones that are good for at-home media consumption and media production (hobby-level video editing, among other things), wearable for extended periods of time, with a life span in the years (not months). Performance-wise, that means neutral-ish sound signature, discernible sound-staging and imaging. HD560S has that. Build-wise, that means decently ventilated open-backs, durable materials, and not be completely useless when a component of the headphone fails. Detachable cable (single-ended) that can be replaced if it fails, sturdy plastic with metal(?) mesh that feels light in my head and decent clamp force. For a point of comparison, there was a set of headphones that I bought at a similar price point before the HD560S: Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 80-Ohm edition (AU$290). Performance-wise, there's a noticeable amount of treble in it (not ear-splitting). Build-wise, the metal build is heavier and sturdier, but it clamped on my ears a bit more, and it didn't feel like my ears were well-ventilated. If anything, it felt like I was wearing my old Turtle Beach gaming headset - ears got hot within minutes. The final straw was when the non-detachable cable was once forcibly yanked away, damaging the jack and the AUX port on the front IO panel of my PC. There was another headphone port at the back, so that was fine, but the DT990 couldn't e saved without DIY (I learned the hard way that I shouldn't be DIY-ing cable replacement for headphones). If I was out and about, I'd instead opt for ultra-budget IEMs or clip-on stereophones - if ever they broke, it wouldn't cost much money to replace. For me, that means I have to really justify making a purchase greater than AU$80 for this use case. IEMs/clip-ons I have owned as expendable daily drivers are: 7Hz Salnotes x Crinacle Zero (1), Truthear Gate, Moondrop Aria Snow Edition (the most reckless decision for this use case) and Koss KSC75.

(amongst the iems have I owned) s tier: kiwi ears ke 4 and truthear hexa a+ tier: Ikko OH10, Pula PA02, Shuoer s12 pro, Sennheiser ie200, Kefine Delci, Dunu Titan S OG a tier: Dunu Titan s2, Tanchjim One, pre revision CCA CRA+ A- tier: Binary Chopin, Tangzu Waner Studio, KZ PR2 pre revision, Tripowin Olina SE B+ tier: Kiwi Ears Quintet, Tangzu Xuan Ji, Simgot EW 200, Truthear Gate and Hola, Tangzu Wan'er SG B tier: Moondrop Chu 2 and OG, KZ EDA Balanced, Kiwi Ears Quartet, Moondrop Aria Snow, FiiO Jade Audio JH3, Tripowin Lea B- tier: 7hz zero OG, Truthear Zero Blue, Whizzer BS1 C tier: KZ CRN D tier: Moondrop Quarks honorable mentions: Koss KSC75 in A minus, Porta Pro in B, Moondrop Space Travel in B-, Galaxy Buds Plus and 2 in A minus along with Airpods Pro Gen 1, and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in A plus.

for me it was the aria snow when i started. now its either kato or variations. hexa is good but idk why i didn't feel comfortable wearing it.

Same thing happened to me but with aria se they were uncomfortable and sound was meh

The biggest difference between my Shure/Klipsch IEMs and Moondrop/7hz (I own Chu2 and SSR and demoed Aria, Starfield and 7hz Eternal) is how bright the modern ones are. Shure (along with Westone) has a reputation for dark signatures and many people don't like them, however in their defense, the filters can be replaced (Knowles BA filters affect the sound) and they respond to EQ extremely well. Klipsch X7i is like a more "fun" Etymotic ER4 to me, it recesses the treble just about right to make it non-fatiguing while keeping the detail and relative neutrality, and does similarly with bass. Aria and Starfield sounded extremely similar (in being V-leaning) but Aria had a wider soundstage. They're basically all-rounders in my opinion, though Aria's soundstage was really outstanding, out of everything I heard it's only second to XBA-A3/Z5 (but these are hard to beat). Treble makes them sound more lively than old BA sets. 7Hz Eternal actually reminded me of Klipsch because it also seems to try and balance between neutrality and the more popular V-shape. SSR tries to achieve "true" diffuse field signature and can get fatiguing but ends up sounding very detailed, and it's impressively "fast" for a single DD. Overall they have different strengths (Shure has insane isolation and build quality and I love how drums sound on them thank to their "speed" and impact, Klipsch is a great all-rounder and smallest of them all, Moondrop SSR has amazing technicalities for how cheap it is) and I can't pick a favorite, though I mostly use Klipsch right now.

The original bass enhanced Castors were a nice surprise for me and now sit next to my Arias as my go-to IEMs. I’m hoping I get to review the new Pro version someday!

I've had my aria for 3 years now and they still sound just as good as when I bought them

This and (mostly) crin's sub has a lot of younger folks looking for sub $50 recs and I can't really blame them, if not for the fact that most game sound engines are not that good that you'd notice any real difference I can directly compare my Cantor, Doscinco, Ea1000 and Arias and all I can hear is "hmm yes the sound is slightly more sound-ier on the Cantor" but I barely play any competitive FPSes since cs2 playerbase is shrinking in Asia and valorant has a particularly bad sound engine You're not going to hear notable differences unless you're getting a soundstage monster like the HD800s or just speakers lads, but it'll probably be a great investment for any other use case

New to the world of iems and daps. Watched some YouTube vids for recs and decided to try a few pairs out for my new dap. Really liking the hexas and the aria 2s reds are great as well they all sound nice. It's cool listening to the same song but different pair and hearing different stuff stand out. Think I got a problem though cuz I still have 4 more pairs coming in the mail lol 😆. Wanted to try a few lower end pairs and then maybe buy something more expensive.

My favorites out of the 4 are the hexa and aria. I got more pairs coming though. Listening to the hexas right now they sound great. Really like that the aria come with switchable jack to 4.4mm. damn wish I got into IEMs sooner. I'm blown away with how good they sound.

Out of those 4 pairs I really like the fit of the arias but all fit my ears fine. The arias are alot smaller than the hexas and zero reds and I find them the most comfortable. The zero twos are also 2nd smallest and fit very comfortably. At least out of these 4 the smaller ones seem to fit better / be more comfortable for me.

Seconded, I started with Aria's and wished I started with IEMs sooner

hexa + apple dongle, don't waste your money on a more expensive DAC to start out with, it really only influences the sound minimally. I'd rather spend the cash on a better pair of IEMs. hexa are nice for a clean analytical sound but the EM6L are still balanced but a bit more rounded and warm compared to the hexa and they tend to have fewer issues with the fit (hexa nozzles very large and people tend to complain about that). the Titan S2 could be an option as well but a lot of people find them shouty. no experience with the dz4 so I can't say anything them but the aria are more v shaped and the fudu (while I do love them) are very warm and soft and you might miss out on some detail in the highs which makes them bad if your expectation is for something truly balanced. legato are just not priced well for how they perform imo but maybe someone else who has more experience with the set can speak to that.

I believe Fresh Reviews does decent game oriented IEM reviews and will likely have various safe picks. I think the soundstage and 3D-ness of gaming headphones are over inflated anyway (long term HyperX Cloud II and Audeze Maxwell use) and good IEMs will be enough to the point where you just cant outhear what the game itself provides. Though not reccomending I have used Arias to relatively high ranks and of no performance deficit in CS so you might as well reap the other IEM benefits, the escape from hairdents, swampy ears and comming too loud is worth it alone.

Couldn't chose a single one but these are my favorites in this price range: -Fiio x Crinacle FHE Eclipse : imho extremely underrated product, such a shame it got discontinued, extremely fun, amazing sub-bass focused bass that still doesn't affect the mids that much, the highs can be somewhat fatiguing but they balance the bass quantity amazingly, with the right song they're amazing - Hidizs MP145: the comfort is quite meh, extremely large shell with a somewhat short and recessed nozzle, but they're extremely versatile with their tuning nozzles and their technical aspects are simply amazing - Moondrop aria / Letshouer Galileo : I'm going to group them together as somewhat jack of all trades neutral with a touch of bass boost, really amazing iems Haven't tried many of the new wave iems of this price category since I've moved up in the price bracket, but they're still extremely good products